The Verb Hotel

From a hospitality point of view, America’s great renewable resource is its generous supply of disused mid-century motels. But to find one in the shadow of Fenway Park, Boston’s legendary baseball stadium, is rare luck. The obvious thing to do might have been to turn it into another place of Red Sox worship, but trust us, Boston has plenty of those. Instead the proprietors of the Verb chose to pay homage to the Fenway/Kenmore neighborhood’s role in rock history — and the result is something it’s safe to say you can’t get anywhere else.

The interiors are an updated and somewhat upscale version of the same mid-century style — we say “somewhat” because, while they’re undoubtedly far swankier than they were in the Howard Johnson’s era, they’re still striving for affordability and accessibility, in a city that’s caught a bad case of luxury fever. The walls are decorated with artwork from the Boston Phoenix, the weekly newspaper which was a Boston music-world institution. And the vibe throughout is cheerful, sunny, almost utopian — there’s a touch of Mondrian in the building’s profile, and the pool courtyard wouldn’t look out of place in Los Angeles.

The Cushman team oversees the eats at Hojoko, a surf-rock Japanese tavern with an extensive, decadent menu and — yes — specialty sake bombs. All in all it’s just the kind of hotel every city needs more of — stylish, well-located, well-executed, and one of a kind.